Protection
by faithhopelove23
Summary: His hand gently touched my face, trying to wipe away my tears. I laughed half-heartedly. "You're too sweet." "Hulk loves Lizzie…" he whispered, looking at me with so much emotion. A sob escaped my mouth. "I love you too." Hulk's eyes narrowed. "Hulk or Banner?" I placed my hand on his face before kissing the hand that was still stroking my face. "I love you both. Equally." One-shot


**Eliza's POV**

I would recognize the mess of black curls anywhere. "Bruce!" I cried, trying to gain the man's attention.

Bruce Banner turned around and pure shock flooded his face. Grinning happily, I launched myself into the man's arms. I felt him hesitantly pat my back. Pulling away, I gave him a once over, he was just as handsome as he'd been when we were younger, if not more handsome.

I knew his associates were staring at us in confusion. I didn't care. I had been trying to reconnect with Bruce ever since his incident. "It's been forever!"

Bruce laughed awkwardly. "Yeah." He turned to look at his associates. Captain America sent him a smirk and Bruce became pink in the face. "Wh-what are you doing here, Eliza?"

I heard a roar from a monster and cringed. "I'll tell you later. You need to work. Let's meet at that cafe on Fifth Street tomorrow at ten-ish. Deal?"

Caught off guard, Bruce could only nod.

"Great! See you then!"

I then ran off into a group of people, screaming for their lives. I simply smiled as I heard the roar of Hulk behind me.

* * *

I got to the cafe an hour before we were supposed to be meeting. I felt weird just sitting in my hotel room with nothing to do. As I waited, I read a very old book on Norse mythology. The paintings they had of Thor and Loki were not at all accurate.

Hearing an awkward chuckle, I looked up at Bruce. I smiled at him. "You're early."

"So are you," he shot back, playing with his glasses.

I giggled. "True. Sit down. I'll go order, do you just take it how you used to?"

Bruce nodded.

After we had our drinks, I wanted to ask so many questions but I could tell he was nervous, so I just asked about his work.

"Well, I was in India for a bit, helping with an epidemic. Then S.H.I.E.L.D recruited me and I became an Avenger. I've been working on some other things but being an Avenger sometimes takes me away from my work."

I sipped at my caramel macchiato. "That makes sense."

He smiled before looking down at his hands. "What about you? I mean, how's psychology?"

"Well, I've got a Ph.D. in psychology and sociology, not to mention I was tutored by one of the most famous therapists on the east coast. About a year ago I got my own practice. So I guess you could say it's going good," I said with a small smile.

Bruce's interest was piqued. "Really? How many patients do you have?"

"Uh, four," I answered. I picked at one of my nails. I realized I needed to repaint them. The light blue nail polish was chipping really bad. "But that's only because - I realize this sounds bad - I have high standards, I guess you could call it."

Bruce's face held no judgment, just curiosity.

"What I'm meaning, is I don't want to help someone that can be helped by a normal therapist. I'm not disregarding the person's problem, I just want to be the one to help those who really can't be helped. Do you get what I'm saying?"

Bruce nodded. He placed his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "Of course. I get it." He smiled. That crooked smile that he used to have on his face all the time when we were closer. That carefree smile I used to secretly swoon over.

I stared into his chocolate brown eyes and he stared into mine. After a moment, he coughed awkwardly.

"Is it fun?" I asked.

Bruce took a sip of his plain black coffee. "Pardon?"

"Being an Avenger? Is it fun?"

A bitter laugh escaped my friend's mouth. "Being around Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, yes. Turning into a ugly green monster, not so much." He looked down at his coffee, a broken type of look appearing on his face.

Shaking my head, I grabbed his hand with mine. When we were younger, I had always held his hand. I noted it hadn't changed except the odd caulous. "I disagree. Hulk isn't a monster."

Bruce stared at our connected hands before scoffing. "You haven't seen him in action then."

"Bruce, does he hurt innocent people?"

He was quiet for a moment. "Kind of… Why?"

"No, no, no. Be serious. When you become Hulk, you can't tell me he looks out to purposely kill innocent children and women." I raised an eyebrow at him, challenging him to disagree.

Bruce ran a hand through his curls. I noted that there was some gray. I didn't think he was that old. "Well, no. Hulk doesn't do that. But when he's fighting the bad guy, he doesn't really care what he smashes as long as he does it."

"Doesn't matter. If he can see someone in the way, does he try to get away from them?"

"Yes," Bruce replied.

"Does he kill the bad guy and help the other Avengers?"

"Yes."

"My point is made. Hulk is not a monster."

Bruce chuckled. "I missed these conversations where you prove me wrong." He looked me in the eyes, serious. "I'm sorry I ignored you."

"It was for a good reason," I whispered, patting his hand.

"Yeah, but still. It was kind of a jerk move. We were supposed to go visit Johnny that summer."

I waved his apology away. "It was years ago, dude. I got over it when I heard what happened." I cleared my throat, not wanting to speak my next words. "Besides, Johnny went to jail around that timeframe for murder."

Bruce's eyes grew wide. Johnny was my older brother, he and Bruce had been best friends since birth. When I was born, I became their sidekick. But as we grew older, my parents realized I was very smart and intuitive. Even though Bruce and Johnny were ten years older than me, I was as smart as them.

Unfortunately, Johnny wasn't able to get into the schools both Bruce and I were going to, my brother took a dark turn, down a road of drugs and gangs. I had tried to talk to him out of it when I visited him in Chicago, where he was living at the time. He just screamed at me to get out and leave him alone because I 'stole his best friend and made him look stupid.'

It hurt me so much. One of the two people who I trusted more than my parents had betrayed me. He hated me. I knew he did.

When a missing girl who was smarter than most kids her age and had dark brown hair and green eyes like me turned up dead, I knew in the bottom of my stomach that it had been Johnny.

That's when I went to the police and told them. Sure enough, as soon as Johnny was taken in for questioning, he spilled.

And ever since then I've been trying to run away from my brother's gang. He had been the leader, I learned. I guess he was the best they'd ever had. I've been able to avoid them for a long time, but I knew they were catching up to me. Sometimes I felt like someone was following me around. That's why I came to New York because my parents had died in a car accident (I actually thought it was my brother's gang) and Bruce was the only family I had left.

"Why?" Bruce asked, interrupting my thoughts.

"No idea," I muttered. I wanted to tell him about my inner turmoil. But I felt like that was too much information. I just wanted him to keep me safe. I knew he could.

"Eliza."

I looked up at him and he squeezed the hand that was still holding his. "I'm sorry."

I smiled reassuringly. "It's okay. It was the path he chose to take. I just wish he hadn't."

* * *

Within the next couple of days, Bruce gave me a tour of New York when he had heard I'd never been there and was just visiting. He had asked me for how long and I gave an excuse that my patients were all on vacation as well. I was going to return when they were all back.

It was an awful lie, I knew it and Bruce knew it as well. But he didn't push, just smiled and told me that we should go visit the Statue of Liberty.

"Wow," I whispered looking up at the statue. "She's beautiful."

Bruce nodded beside me.

I looked at him. "Why aren't you married? I thought you and that Betty girl were, you know, together."

"Um, well, one of the reasons is, I became Hulk. Actually, that's the only reason. I can't have kids."

"Why not?" I questioned. "Did the gamma rays make you, you know?"

"Uh no. Actually, I can't have sex because my pulse will pick up and that might cause me to turn into Hulk."

I couldn't help it. I started to laugh.

"It's not funny," Bruce muttered, crossing his arms.

Through my laughter, I said, "Well, come on, it kind of is. Have you tried it?"

"No!" he cried, looking at me with wide eyes.

I laughed even harder. "Then how do you know?"

People around us started to stare. I was laughing like a maniac and Bruce was blushing a dark red. I didn't blame them.

After a moment, I hugged my friend. "I"m sorry. But you are acting like a prude and it is so funny."

Bruce just hummed as he patted my back. He's been getting used to me hugging him randomly. I've always been like that, even with people who I work with. I pulled away and we started to walk around the island. "What about you? You're thirty-two, why aren't you married?" he asked.

"I was. For a bit. He ended up cheating me and ever since then, I've kind of sworn off relationships." I started to play with the strap of my bag.

"I'm sorry," Bruce said.

Not liking the solemn air around us, I changed the subject. "Hey, remember how good I was at cooking?"

Bruce scoffed. "Eliza, you couldn't even make toast in the toaster without burning the bread."

"Okay, okay, whatever. I took a cooking class and I am much better now. Do you want to come over to my hotel tomorrow night and I'll cook dinner?"

"Sure," he said.

"Yes!" I exclaimed. "Come on, we can go shopping for supplies!" I grabbed his hand and pulled him away from the Statue of Liberty.

* * *

The next night, I was hastily cleaning my hotel, even though it was already spotless. The ingredients were laid out on the small island in the small kitchen. Instead of my normal plain colored shirt and denims, I was wearing a knee-length bright yellow summer dress. It had purple, blue, and orange butterflies on it.

And instead of my waist-length hair pulled into a bun, I had it in a high ponytail. I wasn't sure why I was so dressed up, it was just Bruce.

But that was the thing. I'd had a crush on Bruce ever since I could remember. And these past few days with him had made me like him even more. It sucked because I had a feeling he wouldn't be with me even if he did like me back.

I ran into my small bathroom and looked in the mirror. I didn't wear any makeup, just some chapstick. I noticed that my glasses were dirty and I quickly cleaned them.

Then a knock sounded through my hotel room and my chest constricted. Maybe it was a mistake to wear a dress.

I opened the door and I sighed in relief at Bruce's clothing. He was wearing a dark blue button-up and really nice, almost new looking, denims.

"Hi!" I said.

He smiled at me. "Hello, Eliza."

"Are you ready?"

Bruce nodded, looking happy.

We cooked dinner together while listening to oldies. Don't Stop Believing came on and I sang it as loud as I could, dancing around the kitchen. I grabbed Bruce's hand, pleading him to dance with me. "Come on, Bruce! You always used to dance with me!"

Shaking his head and laughing, he started to dance with me. You'd think he'd be an awkward dancer, but he was really good.

As the song came to an end, the oven started to beep. I quickly shut the music off and crossed my fingers. Bruce opened the oven and some steam came out. Steam, not smoke, I noted.

"Uh-oh," he said.

My hopes and dreams crashed down. Bruce looked at me, worry on his face, before he brought the pan out of the oven.

"What happened?" I asked, my voice tiny. Now we would have to buy take-out and I really didn't want to do that.

"It looks amazing!" Bruce cried, turning toward me, a grin on his face.

Once he set the pan on the stove, I punched his arm. "Not funny, Bruce!" He started to laugh and I shoved him toward the table. "Go sit down, jerk."

"Okay, okay," he said, raising his hands up and walking away.

I looked at the chicken and smelled it. My mouth started to water. I made our plates, grabbed two wine glasses and wine, before making my way to the table. Bruce didn't face me but I could tell something was wrong. Hopefully, punching him and calling him a jerk didn't make the other guy mad.

I placed everything down before putting my hand on his shoulder. "You good?" I asked.

Bruce looked up at me and nodded, smiling. I smiled back.

We ate dinner having a good conversation about the things he's been working on. He didn't touch his wine, so mid-way through, I brought him some water. He sent me a thankful grin.

Once we were done, he took the dishes into the kitchen and I stared out of the window. The sun was setting behind the Empire State Building. It was gorgeous. I brought my knees up and placed my chin in my hand. I wished I looked at sunsets more often.

* * *

**Bruce's POV**

She was beautiful. The light from outside made her face outlined. She looked so happy and calm. I wished I was like her, but even at this moment, the other guy was primal. The Bruce part of me wanted her, but the Hulk part seemed to need her.

Eliza had been making me fall in love with her all over again and I loved it and hated it at the same time.

As I cleared his throat, Eliza turned to me with a soft smile and I could see her looking at me like that until the end of our days. But she didn't know what the other guy was like. I didn't want her to know.

I realized that if I kept spending time with her, she would see the other guy. I couldn't let that happen. But I couldn't talk to her about it right now. "Do you want to bust into that ice cream?"

"Yes!" she cried happily, jumping up from her seat. I tried to keep my eyes on her face, but they traveled down her body. She was in such great shape. I remembered when she was eleven and she wasn't very skinny. Even the last time I saw her, she wasn't as fit as she was now.

Grabbing my hand, she pulled me over to the freezer. She grabbed two paper bowls and the ice cream. Putting quite a few scoops of vanilla ice cream in each bowl, she handed one to me and once again dragged me away.

She plopped down on the sofa and gave me the remote. "We can watch whatever you want to."

Sitting down next to her, I turned the television on. Knowing her, Eliza probably wanted to watch something funny. I ended up putting it on Ferris Bueller's Day Off. She grinned at me before shoving a huge spoon of ice cream in her mouth.

I blinked at her. How did she stay fit?

We watched the movie in comfortable silence. I wasn't too worried about Hulk at the moment. I think we were both content with her leaning against my side. I took a deep breath before wrapping my arm around her. The other guy did nothing that made me start to worry.

A few times during the movie, Eliza started to laugh loudly. It made me laugh as well.

As the movie came to an end, she turned the television off and looked me in the eyes. She was completely serious. I gulped.

"Bruce, I have a confession."

Trying to keep it cool, I raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?" I asked.

I couldn't get myself to stop her as she grabbed my face and brought her lips to mine. I immediately started to move my lips against hers. I licked her lip asking for permission and she allowed me to explore her mouth. She tasted like vanilla, it made me want more.

She moved and straddled me. A low growl escaped from my throat as she brushed against my throbbing member. At that sound, I pulled away. "Eliza, please don't."

She looked me in the eyes. "Bruce, you don't know. You don't know for sure."

I took in her bright green eyes, the little freckles on her nose, her lips. "But I do. And I won't put you in danger. No matter what I want, I need to protect you first and foremost."

"But -"

"No," I said, cutting her off. I stood up with her on my lap, her feet dropping to the floor. I still had my hands on her hips. I leaned down and gave her a sweet kiss. A goodbye kiss because I would not be able to help myself if we were alone together again.

I let her go, grabbed my stuff, and left her hotel room.

* * *

**Eliza's POV**

He wouldn't answer my calls. He wouldn't answer my texts. I didn't want to go back home, back to where my brother's gang would surely be waiting.

I stayed up in my hotel for a total of three days, lounging around and eating my feelings. I couldn't stop thinking about his hands on my hips, his lips on mine.

It had been intoxicating and within just a few minutes I was addicted. I was addicted to his smell, the feel of him. I was addicted to Bruce but once he let out that growl that was purely Hulk, I found I was addicted to him as well.

Groaning, I threw on a jacket and left my room with just my phone and key. Walking around New York City at night was something I'd never done and it was awesome.

I walked around for hours and it was way past midnight by the time I got to Central Park. I was completely alone and I relished in the silence and beauty of the place. It was like I had been transported to another place.

Through a spot in the trees, I spotted some stars. I looked at them, appreciating them.

"Eliza Young."

My head turned toward the voice. A man wearing all black and carrying a gun stalked toward me. Panic erupted in my body. It was the gang. They found me.

"What do you want?"

The man smirked, cocking the gun and aiming it at me. "You got our leader caught. We kill you. A simple trade-off. Wouldn't you agree, boys?"

Out of the dark came five more men, all aiming their guns at me. At that moment, I knew I would either be tortured then killed or just killed. I was leaning more toward just being shot in the head at that moment.

It became slow motion. The man, smirk still on his face, pulled the trigger. I saw the bullet speeding toward my face. Then someone knocked me to the ground. I hissed at a pain in my shoulder before looking up at a very green Bruce. We locked eyes and his were no longer brown. They were green.

"Bruce," I whispered, bringing my hand up to his face.

A bullet hit him in the side and he let out a roar of anger. He turned to the men, glaring around like a madman. His face contorted as his body became bigger and his clothing ripped. Within moments, the five men were thrown around and the leader had been thrown up into a tree.

Hulk walked up to me, staring at me in worry. I had my hand covering my shoulder. I pulled it away and gaped at the large amount of blood. Hulk let out a growl of worry.

His head shot up at a noise. He grabbed me as gently as a giant could and cradled me against him. A second later, machine gun fire rained against his back.

I couldn't help the yelps of pain that escaped from my mouth at the tiniest of movements from Hulk. He looked down at me in fear.

"We need to get out of here," I muttered.

He narrowed his eyes and nodded once. He jumped away but before we could go too far, I felt a bullet rip through my thigh. I gasped at the pain and felt tears fall down my face.

Hulk looked down at me before pulling me tighter against him, yet he made sure to stay away from my wounds. I wasn't sure how many times he jumped through the air, almost flying.

We soon landed in the middle of a dark forest. "Lizzie hurt," Hulk muttered, setting me down on the ground.

Cringing, I nodded. "But it's okay, Hulk. I'll be okay."

His hand gently touched my face, trying to wipe away my tears. I laughed half-heartedly. "You're too sweet."

"Hulk loves Lizzie…" he whispered, looking at me with so much emotion.

A sob escaped my mouth. "I love you too."

Hulk's eyes narrowed. "Hulk or Banner?"

I placed my hand on his face before kissing the hand that was still stroking my face. "I love you both. Equally."

Hulk drew away, grunting as he shrunk back to Bruce. He groaned as he looked around. Once his eyes landed on me, however, he shot up and came over to me. "Oh my God, Eliza, are you okay?"

The pain was still excruciating but all I could do was stare at him. He was absolutely naked. And he was hot. Despite being in his forties, he was fit and attractive. My eyes traveled south and I tried not to bite my lip.

Bruce cleared his throat awkwardly. "Um, Eliza?"

"What, yes. I'm okay. Bleeding but I'm okay." I could feel a blush spreading over my cheeks.

Bruce took a deep breath before lifting a handle I hadn't seen before.

I tilted my head. "What's that?"

"Old bunker I use if I want to get away from people," Bruce answered. He looked between me and the bunker entrance. He sighed loudly. "Okay, Eliza, I need you to hop on my back." He knelt down in front of me. I could feel his embarrassment radiating off him in waves.

He helped me climb onto his back and then made our way down the ladder. He kept asking if I was okay, and everytime I would tell him I was fine.

I really wasn't. I was hurting and trying to keep my unwounded arm from rubbing the muscles that rippled with every movement. Once we made it to the bottom, I noticed that there was one bed, a small kitchen area, and a door to what I guessed was the bathroom.

Bruce carefully set me down on the bed before going to a small dresser and grabbing a pair of sweatpants. He pulled them on quickly before he found a first aid kit.

He moved fast but carefully. He took my shirt and pants off with deft hands. "What kind of doctor were you again?" I teased, trying to lighten the mood.

He smirked before heading into the bathroom. "Who were those men?" he questioned, looking at me. He cleaned my wounds with an alcohol-drenched rag. I clenched my teeth together, trying to keep in the cries of pain.

"I'm sorry," he whispered as he finished cleaning.

I gasped for air, breathing heavily. Damn, bullet wounds hurt like hell. "They were part of Johnny's gang. I told the police about the girl he murdered. I got him caught, they decided to extract revenge on me."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Bruce questioned, grabbing a needle and some type of thread. I became dizzy. I'd never had stitches before.

"Didn't want to worry you," I said, trying to get rid of my nausea.

"I wouldn't have ignored you if you had told me the truth. I would've gotten you the protection you needed. Then you wouldn't have been shot twice."

Tears flooded my eyes. "Bruce, you were supposed to be my protection. And you were. Even tonight you protected me."

He shook his head. "You might want to take a deep breath."

I did as he told me then he started to stitch me up. I pursed my lips together and clenched my eyes tight. Tears leaked out of my closed eyelids but I kept quiet. It was stupid of me not to tell him what was going on. Why didn't I?

Because he wouldn't have spent time with me. He would've gotten someone else to protect me but I wanted him. I didn't trust anyone else.

And then I remembered what Hulk had said to me. He loved me. Hulk was part of Bruce, so Bruce probably loved me too, right? Opening my eyes, I watched as he stitched up my thigh. Concentration and sadness was etched on his handsome face. "I'm sorry."

He looked up at me for a second before turning back to my thigh. "It's alright. We can talk about this later."

I nodded. Soon after, he finished and cleaned my wounds. Bruce wrapped my shoulder and thigh before giving me a large shirt.

He helped me underneath the covers and I passed out.

* * *

**Bruce's POV**

I took a cold shower, trying to remember what the other guy had told her. I knew it had to do something with their very complicated relationship, I just didn't know the exact words. It bothered me to no end.

Getting dressed in some underwear and sweatpants, I left the bathroom. Eliza was passed out in the bed, snoring softly.

I chuckled. Of course, she would snore. That's just an Eliza thing to do. Yawning, I searched for a place to sleep and failed.

In the end, either I was too tired or I didn't care, I crawled in bed next to her, careful not to move too much.

She turned toward me, eyes opening softly. Her vibrant green eyes made my breath catch.

"Hold me," she whispered softly. "Please?"

Giving in to temptation, I held the woman I loved, running my hands through her soft hair. After everything blew over with the gang, I'd take her back to her home in Ohio and never talk to her again.

It would hurt us both, but I knew it was for the best. I knew that Eliza had always wanted children and since I couldn't have sex, how would our relationship truly blossom?

Even the thought of her underneath me, panting, was enough to spike my pulse way too high to be safe.

It took me forever to finally close my eyes and let sleep consume me.

* * *

**Eliza's POV**

The next day, the tension between Bruce and I was very thick. I wasn't sure if it was sexual tension or something else. He made me food and kept very quiet. I watched him with careful eyes.

I knew he had slept with me last night. I remember him crawling out of bed early. He ended up sitting at the small table in the corner with a cup of coffee.

He brought me my breakfast and we ate in silence.

Around mid-day, I started to feel gross. "Bruce, I need a shower."

The man shook his head. "No showers for you. But you may take a bath."

"Do you think I might need help?"

Bruce cringed, avoiding my eyes. "Most likely."

I laughed softly, gesturing for him to come closer. He did, sitting on the edge of the bed. I wrapped my uninjured arm around him. A moment later, I was sitting on the edge of the bathtub, looking at how I would get undressed. I was wearing a huge shirt, my underwear, and my bra.

Bruce left the bathroom for a moment and I took that time to strip naked. It was hard, every move causing my wounds to flare up in pain. The bathtub was already filled with water and bubbles. I smiled. I couldn't remember the last time I had a bubble bath.

Lowering myself into the bathtub, I let out a soft cry before clenching my teeth together. I looked down at my shoulder and scowled at the stitches. I hated my brother's gang.

"You good?" Bruce asked, popping his head into the bathroom.

I nodded, trying to hide my cringe. "Yeah, can you help me wash my hair?"

An internal struggle was obvious on Bruce's face before he nodded. He sat down on the edge of the bathtub, grabbing the shampoo and pouring a good amount in his hand. He started to rub his hands through my hair, scrubbing softly.

Sighing, I relaxed, sinking further into the water. I just wanted to let this comfortable silence wash over us but I knew we needed to talk.

"Hulk told me something," I whispered.

Bruce's hands froze before continuing his washing. "Yeah?" he muttered hesitantly. "What did he say?"

I looked into Bruce's eyes. "He told me he loved me."

Bruce stared at me in shock before his face started to blush a dark red. He pulled his hands out of my hair, grabbing a towel and wiping them off. Standing, he turned away from me.

I narrowed my eyes. "Hey, you wanna know what I said?"

"Not really," he said, not moving an inch.

"Too bad. I told him that I loved him too."

Bruce spun around so fast, I was scared he'd get whiplash. His eyes were so intense. "You can't love me, Eliza. I could never satisfy you, I could never give you children."

I became irritated. "Well, how do you know? Huh? How do you know that you'll turn into Hulk if you make love to me?"

Bruce groaned, running his hands through his hair. "Please stop, Eliza. We can never be a thing, okay? Let it go."

I crossed my arms and looked at the bubbles. "Do you love me back? That's all I want to know."

He sighed. "Yeah," he said weakly. "I do love you." He then left the bathroom, only to come back several minutes later to help me out. He pointedly avoided looking at my bare chest and said nothing.

* * *

I wasn't sure how many days we spent in the bunker. My stitches had gotten better and with the help of pain meds, I hardly felt a thing. I could finally take showers.

Bruce and I spoke seldomly. On occasion, we would have conversations about work and I told him all about my brother's gang.

He had ended up sleeping at the table every night, despite me telling him I'd keep my distance in the bed.

One day, I had gotten out of the shower and couldn't take it anymore. I laid on the bed, absolutely naked and waited for him to get out of the shower.

Stepping out of the bathroom, it took him a moment to look at me. "Eliza," he growled, holding onto his towel, his fingers turning white.

I climbed out of bed and swaggered up to him, my hips swinging. Wrapping my arms around his chest, I pressed my lips to his.

"Why can't this be?" I muttered against his lips.

"It just can't." He gasped as I tore his towel off.

I kissed him again, grabbing his hands and leading him toward the bed. I could sense his resolve breaking. I smirked as he tangled his hands in my hair.

Bruce shoved me onto the bed, looking down at me with a hungry glare. Then, for a moment, he went back to sweet, awkward Bruce. "What if I hurt you? What about your stitches?"

Smiling, I slowly wrapped my legs around him. "I don't think you could ever hurt me, Bruce."

He then narrowed his eyes and I noticed they were somewhat green. He crashed his lips against mine, devouring me in a hungry kiss.

That night I had some of the best sex I ever had. Bruce didn't turn into Hulk, but he was rough the first couple times, turning more gentle and love-filled as we got tired.

Opening my eyes, I smiled at his sleeping face. Bringing my hand up, I stroked his cheek. This man was my life. I could never imagine leaving him.

"Eliza," he muttered, brown eyes meeting green.

I pressed a soft kiss to his lips. "Morning, sleepyhead."

Bruce chased my lips as I pulled away. "Morning."

I laughed and snuggled closer to him, our naked bodies sharing each other's warmth.

* * *

**One Year Later**

My eyes opened at the sound of Carrie crying. Sighing tiredly, I went over to her crib and picked the baby up. The sweet girl had her father's black locks and my green eyes. She squinted up at me, sobbing becoming quiet.

"Shh, shh, sweet girl, Mama's here." I rocked her in my arms, humming a simple tune.

I heard the door open to our living area in the Avengers' tower. "J.A.R.V.I.S?" I asked.

"It's Mr. Banner, ma'am," The AI replied.

I sighed in relief, placing a sleeping Carrie back into her crib. I placed her blanket over her and stroked some of her hair away.

I felt Bruce's arms wrapping around me, his lips kissing my shoulder softly.

"Hey, baby," I whispered, turning around in his arms. I kissed his lips happily. "I missed you."

Bruce chuckled, placing kisses all over my face. "I missed you both."

I led him out of our room and into the kitchen. "I have a surprise for you, handsome." Smirking, I opened the fridge and pulled out a cupcake.

Bruce's eyes narrowed in curiosity. "What's that?"

"Close your eyes," I whispered. He did and I placed it in front of him. "Okay, open."

He looked at me before looking down at the cupcake. I could see the gears working in his head as he looked at the baby bottle on the cupcake. He picked it up and read the words.

His eyes widened and a careful smile appeared on his face. "You're pregnant?"

I nodded, trying to keep in my excitement.

Bruce started to laugh, coming over and hugging me. "Oh! That's great!"

I giggled. "I know! I just found out today so Carrie and I decided to make cupcakes. Unfortunately, some of your co-workers came and stole some. I could only save you one."

Bruce sighed, nuzzling my neck and breathing me in deeply. "I love you, Eliza."

"I love you too, Bruce," I muttered, placing a kiss on his cheek.

**A/N: So this is my first M rated fic. I really hope I did a good job and I hope everyone likes it. I am open to constructive criticism and any type of tips! Thank you! **


End file.
